Project description:microRNA dysregulation is a common feature of cancer cells, but the complex roles of microRNAs in cancer are not fully elucidated. Here we used functional genomics to identify oncogenic microRNAs in non-small cell lung cancer and to evaluate their impact on response to EGFR targeting therapy. Our data demonstrate that microRNAs with an AAGUGC-motif in their seed-sequence increase both cancer cell proliferation and sensitivity to EGFR inhibitors. Global transcriptomics, proteomics and target prediction resulted in the identification of several tumor suppressors involved in the G1/S transition as targets of AAGUGC-microRNAs. The clinical implications of our findings were evaluated by analysis of public domain data supporting the link between this microRNA seed-family, their tumor suppressor targets and cancer cell proliferation. In conclusion we propose that AAGUGC-microRNAs are an integral part of an oncogenic signaling network, and that these findings have potential therapeutic implications, especially in selecting patients for EGFR-targeting therapy.
Project description:microRNA dysregulation is a common feature of cancer cells, but the complex roles of microRNAs in cancer are not fully elucidated. Here we used functional genomics to identify oncogenic microRNAs in non-small cell lung cancer and to evaluate their impact on response to EGFR targeting therapy. Our data demonstrate that microRNAs with an AAGUGC-motif in their seed-sequence increase both cancer cell proliferation and sensitivity to EGFR inhibitors. Global transcriptomics, proteomics and target prediction resulted in the identification of several tumor suppressors involved in the G1/S transition as targets of AAGUGC-microRNAs. The clinical implications of our findings were evaluated by analysis of public domain data supporting the link between this microRNA seed-family, their tumor suppressor targets and cancer cell proliferation. In conclusion we propose that AAGUGC-microRNAs are an integral part of an oncogenic signaling network, and that these findings have potential therapeutic implications, especially in selecting patients for EGFR-targeting therapy.
Project description:Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a developmental process driving metastasis and chemoresistance. Thymidylate synthase (TS) is a proliferation enzyme and a chemotherapeutic drug target we previously correlated with EMT. Here we report a rather direct role of TS in determining EMT phenotypes in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). TS knockdown and a promoter reporter system revealed the control of TS on EMT, and upstream regulators (HMGA2, HOXC6) and downstream effectors (AXL, SPARC, FOSL1) were identified. In vivo, TS knockdown suppressed lung colonization and metastasis formation in a proliferation-independent manner. Transcriptomic analyses showed a significant enrichment of EMT signature genes in NSCLC patients with high TS levels. These results establish the role of TS as a theranostic NSCLC marker mediating survival, chemo-resistance and EMT, and identifies a regulatory network that could be exploited to target EMT-driven NSCLC.
Project description:Purpose: The goal of our study is to compare two different ecotypes of Oryza sativa L., PHS-susceptible rice trait and PHS-resistant rice trait under three different maturation stages in rice seed embryo with profile of miRNA-seq. Methods: Oryza sativa. L miRNA profiles of two different ecotypes with 3 different maturation stages of rice seed embryo were generated by NGS, in duplicate, following Illumina NGS workflow. Results: We found the differentially expressed microRNAs between PHS-susceptible rice trait and PHS-resistant rice trait according to the three different seed maturation stages. Target transcripts of differentially expressed microRNAs have been predicted via psRNATarget web server, and a part of those target genes are likely to be regulated by microRNAs, affecting overall responses to heat stress and the regulation of seed dormancy during maturation. Conclusions: Our study represents the analysis of rice seed small RNAs, specifically microRNAs, under two different ecotypes, three different seed maturation stages in rice seed embryo. Our results show that microRNAs are involved in response to heat stress and the regulation of seed dormancy. This study will provide a foundation for understanding dynamics of seed dormancy during the seed development and overcoming pre-harvest sprouting.
Project description:Analysis of miRNA expression in human breast cancer samples with Agilent's miRNA arrays. These samples are part of a study where we have investigated the mammalian cell proliferation control network consisting of transcription regulators, E2F and p53, their targets, and a family of 14 microRNAs. We observed that indicative of their significance, expression of these microRNAs is down-regulated in senescent cells and in breast cancers harboring wild-type p53. These microRNAs are repressed by p53 in an E2F1-mediated manner. Abstract of paper: Normal cell growth is governed by a complicated biological system, featuring multiple levels of control, often deregulated in cancers. The role of microRNAs in the control of gene expression is now increasingly appreciated, yet their involvement in controlling cell proliferation is still not well understood. Here we investigated the mammalian cell proliferation control network consisting of transcription regulators, E2F and p53, their targets, and a family of 14 microRNAs. Indicative of their significance, expression of these microRNAs is down-regulated in senescent cells and in breast cancers harboring wild-type p53. These microRNAs are repressed by p53 in an E2F1-mediated manner. Furthermore, we show that these microRNAs silence anti-proliferative genes, which themselves are E2F1 targets. Thus, microRNAs and transcriptional regulators appear to cooperate in the framework of a multi-gene transcriptional and post-transcriptional feed-forward loop. Finally, we show that, similarly to p53 inactivation, overexpression of representative microRNAs promotes proliferation and delays senescence, manifesting the detrimental phenotypic consequence of perturbations in this circuit. Together these findings position microRNAs as novel key players in the mammalian cellular proliferation network. Keywords: Breast Cancer, miRNA, p53. 18 Primary human breast cancer samples analyzed for their miRNA expression. From two to four replicates were performed for each sample. Quality check (QC) were performed with Feature Extraction 9.1.3.44 and arrays not passing QC were excluded
Project description:It is commonly known that mammalian microRNAs guide the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) to target mRNAs through the seed-pairing rule. However, recent experiments by co-immunoprecipitating the argonaute proteins (AGOs), the central catalytic component of RISC, have consistently revealed extensive AGO-associated mRNAs lacking seed complementarity with microRNAs. We herein test the hypothesis that AGO has its own binding preference within target mRNAs, independent of guide microRNAs. By systematically analyzing the data from in vivo cross-linking experiments with human AGOs, we have identified a structurally accessible and evolutionarily conserved region (~10 nucleotides) that alone can accurately predict AGO-mRNA associations, independent of the presence of microRNA binding sites. Within this region, we further identified an enriched motif that is also consistently present in several independent AGO-immunoprecipitation datasets. We used RNAcompete to enumerate the RNA-binding preference of human AGO2 to all possible 7-mer RNA sequences, and validated our motif in vitro. These findings reveal a novel function of AGOs as sequence-specific RNA-binding proteins, which may aid microRNAs in recognizing their targets with high specificity. Here, we analyze the RNA-binding preference of human Argonaute 2 protein using RNAcompete assay
Project description:Analysis of miRNA expression in human breast cancer samples with Agilent's miRNA arrays. These samples are part of a study where we have investigated the mammalian cell proliferation control network consisting of transcription regulators, E2F and p53, their targets, and a family of 14 microRNAs. We observed that indicative of their significance, expression of these microRNAs is down-regulated in senescent cells and in breast cancers harboring wild-type p53. These microRNAs are repressed by p53 in an E2F1-mediated manner. Abstract of paper: Normal cell growth is governed by a complicated biological system, featuring multiple levels of control, often deregulated in cancers. The role of microRNAs in the control of gene expression is now increasingly appreciated, yet their involvement in controlling cell proliferation is still not well understood. Here we investigated the mammalian cell proliferation control network consisting of transcription regulators, E2F and p53, their targets, and a family of 14 microRNAs. Indicative of their significance, expression of these microRNAs is down-regulated in senescent cells and in breast cancers harboring wild-type p53. These microRNAs are repressed by p53 in an E2F1-mediated manner. Furthermore, we show that these microRNAs silence anti-proliferative genes, which themselves are E2F1 targets. Thus, microRNAs and transcriptional regulators appear to cooperate in the framework of a multi-gene transcriptional and post-transcriptional feed-forward loop. Finally, we show that, similarly to p53 inactivation, overexpression of representative microRNAs promotes proliferation and delays senescence, manifesting the detrimental phenotypic consequence of perturbations in this circuit. Together these findings position microRNAs as novel key players in the mammalian cellular proliferation network. Keywords: Breast Cancer, miRNA, p53.
Project description:It is commonly known that mammalian microRNAs guide the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) to target mRNAs through the seed-pairing rule. However, recent experiments by co-immunoprecipitating the argonaute proteins (AGOs), the central catalytic component of RISC, have consistently revealed extensive AGO-associated mRNAs lacking seed complementarity with microRNAs. We herein test the hypothesis that AGO has its own binding preference within target mRNAs, independent of guide microRNAs. By systematically analyzing the data from in vivo cross-linking experiments with human AGOs, we have identified a structurally accessible and evolutionarily conserved region (~10 nucleotides) that alone can accurately predict AGO-mRNA associations, independent of the presence of microRNA binding sites. Within this region, we further identified an enriched motif that is also consistently present in several independent AGO-immunoprecipitation datasets. We used RNAcompete to enumerate the RNA-binding preference of human AGO2 to all possible 7-mer RNA sequences, and validated our motif in vitro. These findings reveal a novel function of AGOs as sequence-specific RNA-binding proteins, which may aid microRNAs in recognizing their targets with high specificity.
Project description:Study to identify genes associated with NSCLC recurrence in patients not receiving adjuvant chemotherapy. Purpose: Recent clinical trials suggest improvement in survival with adjuvant chemotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This study's aim is to identify genes associated with NSCLC recurrence in patients not receiving adjuvant chemotherapy. Experimental design: Banked NSCLC tumors of patients who underwent resection of stage Ia-IIIb disease were identified. Patients were stratified into two groups: recurrent (R, n=11) or non-recurrent (NR, n=16) 2 years after surgery. Microarray profiling and Cox multivariate analysis were performed. Conclusion: Increased CYP3A5 gene expression correlates with NSCLC recurrence and promotes proliferation through mechanisms that may involve, in part, CYP3A5 epoxygenase activity. Experiment Overall Design: comparison of gene expression profiles for recurrent and non-recurrent cancer
Project description:Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths, characterized by highly invasion and metastasis. Aldo-keto reductase family 1 member C1 (AKR1C1) plays an important role in cancer cell proliferation and metastasis and has gained attention as an anticancer drug target. Here we report that the natural sesquiterpene lactone alantolactone (ALA) was shown to bind directly to AKR1C1 through the Proteome Integral Solubility Alteration (PISA) analysis, a label-free target identification approach based on thermal proteome profiling.